3 Red Admiral Court Gateshead

Updated 22 July 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

3 Red Admiral Court is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. 3 Red Admiral Court is a care home without nursing care . CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people were often out. We wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 26 April 2022 and ended on 27 May 2022. We visited the location on 26 April 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We also reviewed the information we held about the service. This included any statutory notifications received. Statutory notifications are specific pieces of information about events, which the provider is required to send to us by law.

We sought feedback from the local authority contracts monitoring and safeguarding adults' teams and reviewed the information they provided. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed documentation, inspected the safety of the premises and carried out observations in communal areas.

We spoke with three people who used the service, three relatives, and four members of staff including the registered manager and support staff. We received written feedback from four support staff after our site visit. We reviewed the care records for three people, medicine records for four people and the recruitment records for three members of staff.

We looked at a range of records. This included staffing rotas, training records, meeting minutes, policies and procedures, environmental safety and information relating to the governance of the service.

Updated 22 July 2022

About the service

3 Red Admiral Court is a residential care home providing personal care to up to six people. The service provides support to people with visual impairments, who may also have physical and learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were five people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People and their relatives were very positive about the care provided. People told us they were able to choose what they did each day and staff supported them in a kind and caring way. Relatives were very happy about the support provided by staff and provided positive examples of how people’s lives had improved since moving to the home.

The registered manager had an effective quality and assurance system in place which allowed them to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the care provided. People, relatives and staff were asked for feedback to help improve the care provided. Lessons learned from incidents were also used to improve the service provided.

People and relatives were involved in every stage of their care planning and took part in regular reviews of their support needs. People told us they had key workers and talked through what they needed and what was important to them.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. Staff at all levels respected people's preferences and individualities. They took proactive steps to learn about people's past history, goals and ambitions to better enable them to care for people. This led to positive health and wellbeing outcomes for people, particularly reductions in anxiety and the development of new friendships and interests.

All staff ensured people living at the service had extremely engaging sociable lives. The registered manager and staff found ways to ensure people were positively engaged; their independence was promoted, and their passions and interests maintained wherever possible.

Medicines were safely managed and in line with best practice guidance. Risks to people had been fully assessed and mitigated to help keep people safe. People's care plans were individual and included involvement from other healthcare professionals. The environment was safe and homely.

Staff were supported with regular supervisions, team meetings, learning sessions and appraisals. Staff were safely recruited and received a comprehensive induction from the provider. Training was effectively monitored, and refresher training was provided on a rolling basis.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 10 October 2020 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 7 March 2018.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection of a new service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.